Chelsea Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Thorgan Hazard and Cesc Fabregas

Chelsea are reportedly running out of time to activate their buy-back clause on Borussia Monchengladbach's Thorgan Hazard and will send scouts to cast an eye over the Belgian.

The west London club sold Hazard, brother of Blues star Eden, to Gladbach in 2015 after the youngster had spent time on loan at the Bundesliga club.

According to Bild (via Tom Coast of Sport Witness), Chelsea could bring the in-form 23-year-old back to Stamford Bridge with ease, as they have a buy-back clause on him worth €15 million (£12.9 million), but the clause runs out on December 31, 2016.

Assuming that Chelsea are impressed enough with the forward to activate the clause before the end of the year, he will return to Stamford Bridge next summer.

And the Blues' interest will surely have been piqued by Hazard's prolific start to the 2016-17 term, per Bundesliga expert Stefan Bienkowski:

Bild's report also revealed that Chelsea will likely send scouts to Gladbach's Wednesday game with RB Leipzig, while Hazard himself is unconcerned with the link to his former club.

"I signed a contract here [to 2019] because I want to play here," he said. "I’m not wasting a single thought on Chelsea, as I am totally focused on my job here."

Meanwhile, Chelsea will reportedly not sell Cesc Fabregas because of his status as a homegrown player.

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

Per James Gray in the Express, Fabregas' eight years at Arsenal means that he qualifies as one of the eight homegrown players required in Chelsea's 25-man squad by both the Premier League and UEFA.

In fact, Fabregas is one of only six homegrown players in the Chelsea squad—along with Asmir Begovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Victor Moses and Nathaniel Chalobah—which has required the Blues to leave blank spaces in their group.

The Spain international has been used only from the bench by manager Antonio Conte since the start of the 2016-17 Premier League season and has been linked with interest from AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus, per Steve Stammers in the Mirror.

However, per Gray, with Terry likely to leave Chelsea at the end of the season, selling Fabregas could leave the Blues worryingly short of homegrown players, and it is unlikely he will be moved on despite his limited recent role.